The Sleeper Must Awaken
by Collen DeWitt
Summary: Malone returns,with some new skills and knowledge about Finn ...Chapter 4!
1. Stumbling into the Future

The Lost World  
Chapter One: Stumbling into the Future  
  
"The Sleeper Must Awaken"  
  
He swung through the trees grasping on them doing flips and turns that made him feel more free than he ever had in his entire life. The past two years flew through his brain, even the first year that only the long intricate scars on his back could tell.  
"Good. You're doing much better." Tao said enthusiastically as he landed inches from his feet. Tao was slender with thick black hair and he wore an outfit like his, handmade by the women of the tribe. "Want to try the staff next?"  
"Sure, Maybe you'll beat me this time." He responded in a language not of his own. He had only picked it up during the past year along with the tribe's style of dress and their pacifist-like ways. He had once used guns and other means of destruction when he first come to this strange and wonderful world. He had now leaned that guns was an unfair advantage to the people here. Now, he used staffs and throwing knifes that he learned from-  
He thought about going back to the house in the trees back to his friends who were more like family and ..her. The girl with the hair the color of corn. His affection for her now love grew everyday, and he thought about her often but still he wasn't ready to return. He did not know then that fate would decide for him.   
"Funny, here." Tao said handing hum the staff. Suddenly, he felt a familiar sensation in his head, he wasn't standing in the jungle with his friend anymore, but somewhere else, another would, maybe.   
"I've been studying this group for years. George Challenger, Marguerite Crew, Lord John Roxton, even Veronica Layton. The others, Arthur Summerlee and Edward Malone are not of your concern. I want you to kill them." The lean man wore all black and he spoke diabolically to a young girl with short blonde hair.   
He stood in the corner, watching; a stranger. He wondered what his new gift from the "spirit realm", the power to foresee the past and future events, was trying to make him see.  
The girl smiled and spoke, "Sure, I'll do it. But, how do I find this Challenger?"  
"Oh my dear, he'll find you and make sure he does. Befriend him, get close to him and his friends, take months if u half to, then I want you to kill them. With he and his friends out of existence, history will play out much better for me. Got that Finn?'  
She smiled again, an evil smile. "No problem."  
The rush sensation came back again and suddenly he was back in the forest and standing with the staff..  
"Malone, Malaeoi? What did you see this time?"  
"A woman named Finn is going to kill my friends-I have to go back." 


	2. A Chapter of Filler

The Lost World  
Chapter 2:  
The Sleeper Must Awaken  
  
  
***  
  
"Malone!" she yelled , jumping out of her bed. She ran a hand through her mass of curly blonde hair and sighed. He's been gone for two years and she still dreamt about him; still talked about him. It really was pathetic. Well, what could she do, while watching the newly married Marguerite and Roxton barely able to keep their hands off each other? Besides Veronica still believed Malone would come back to her one day. She hung onto that thought like she had hung onto the belief that her parents would come back. And they had. Granted not her father, but she had learned about her role as "protector of the plateau" from her mother. Yes, she had located Abigail and she had told her everything. Even now she smiled at the memory. She would have quite a wait though, her mother had said. She wanted Veronica to have a life first- a family. But how could she have one with out M-  
  
"V!" she heard Finn call breaking her out of her thoughts. "V!" she called again.  
  
"Coming!" She yelled back, more harshly than she had intended. The nickname "V" had been cute at first but now it grew in to an annoyance. She put on her clothes and stepped into the kitchen and smiled at the young blonde.   
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Time for breakfast. I made something special." She said coldly, almost without feeling.  
  
She had been like that recently. Distant, methodical, almost as if she was going through the motions. She had also taken to making their meals….  
  
Meals,  
  
Unbeknownst to Veronica that were slowly killing them.  
  
*  
  
"Morning." Marguerite smiled as she rolled over to the side of the bed in which Roxton slept on. She was so jovial, it scared her. She couldn't believe how she, a cold, secretive woman, could have even won Lord John Roxton's love. And the fact that he had married her made her even more surprised. Granted he was not her first husband- not even her second-but he was the only husband that she had ever felt this way for. The only husband who made her feel that she was or could be a good person, despite all her faults. In short , she, now Lady Marguerite Crew Roxton was madly in love and enjoyed every minute of it. However, she couldn't let John know this. "A girl's got to have a few secrets." she thought slyly to herself.  
  
"Good morning," he replied back winking at her. "I think its time we get out of bed and see what breakfast Finn has in store for us, hmm?" John asked.  
  
"Absolutely." Marguerite said as the two walked out of their bedroom arm and arm.  
  
*  
  
A million thoughts went through his head as he headed back to the tree house. What would he say? How could he explain why it took two years to "find" himself? How was he going to get them to believe that this Finn woman wasn't who she claimed to be? Tao had said that much and more as he had left the village and he wondered if he was right. What if Finn didn't even exist and his vision was only a pretense? He knew that his growing power had never been wrong before but that still didn't stop Malone's doubts. Well he had two days to go before he made it to the tree house hopefully by then he wouldn't be too late. 


	3. An Unexpected Arrival

The Sleeper Must Awaken  
Chapter Three:  
  
Malone looked up and there it was. The home he and spent two years trying to figure out if he belonged there. Trying to find himself. And he had, essentially. He had learned about his powers and how to control them. The one thing he couldn't control were his feelings for Veronica. He knew that she had "Just wanted to be friends" but could she still feel that way? Did she feel anything for him now? He shrugged his emotions off. His purpose here wasn't to rekindle an old flame, it was to save his friends- his family- from Finn. So, he took a deep breath and walked to the elevator hoping that he would receive a friendly reception.  
  
She sensed him before she saw him. Marguerite and Roxton briefly took their hands off each other to give her a puzzled look as she yelled, "Malone!" to seemingly nothing.  
  
"What are you-" Marguerite said as she was cut off and left- for the first time- speechless as Ned Malone stood in front of her.  
  
"What are you doing here, Old Boy?" Roxton said brotherly as he rushed over with the rest of the group to embrace their missing friend.  
  
"Hey," Malone spoke almost shyly. "Where's Challenger?"  
  
"He's out." Veronica said excited to see him. "Oh and you have to meet Finn."  
  
"Finn?" he responded, pretending to look puzzled.  
  
"Yeah, she's from the future." she laughed. "It's complicated. I'll explain it to you later."  
  
"How about now?" Marguerite said slyly. "I'm sure you two have a lot to catch up on."  
  
"Yeah." Roxton piped in. "My wife and I will leave the two of you alone." he took her arm and the two headed for their bedroom.  
  
"His wife?" Malone chuckled. He figures those two would get together someday.  
  
"Yup, they got married last month in the Zanga village. " she smiled as they walked slowly to the balcony. "So, where have you been? Why did you decide to come back?"  
  
  
Well, I've been staying with the Zamora tribe."  
"The whole time?"  
  
Malone looked away and hesitated ever to slightly. "It's not important. So, what has been going on here? I-I missed you."  
  
"I missed you too." Veronica smiled. He was different - new clothes, the beard, the staff, even a slight accent- but yet the same. She had let he go once and though she felt his reasons for coming back weren't as simple as they seemed, she wasn't going to let him get away again.  
"Come with me." She spoke as the two of them, changed by time, headed towards her bedroom.  
  
*  
  
"I'll have to take you to meet Tao sometime and the people of the village. I think you'd like them." Malone grinned at her. They had spent a lot of time together lately. He hadn't told her about his vision or powers yet. He wanted to watch Finn, just to make sure his vision was right.  
  
"I'd like that. But, Malone we have to talk about why you left in the first place…" 


	4. Knockout Neddy

Chapter four: "Knock Out Neddy"  
"So, where have you been? You had us worried for a while there, Old Boy." Roxton mused as the group, minus Challenger, sat eating Malone's welcome back dinner.  
  
"Everywhere." Malone chuckled. "Actually…. This plateau contains things that even we haven't even seen."  
  
"And what finally brought you back to us?" Marguerite said slyly sitting in her husband's lap. She never fancied herself the type of wife who would do that, in fact she hadn't been that type of wife, but something about John Roxton made her want to show the entire world her affection for him.  
  
"I thought it was the right time," Malone said using Marguerite's old skill of evasiveness. Truthfully he wasn't even sure that if he hadn't of had the vision, he would have ever come back. "Besides what about all of you? What trouble did you get into while I was gone?"  
  
"Well, Challenger invented a time machine, and we got Finn here, Veronica found out about her parents," Marguerite laughed and looked about Veronica, "Our little jungle girl is "the protector of the plateau", or at least the next in line to be so. Unimportant things like that. And-"  
  
"Why are you here?" Finn put in suddenly with a look of rage in her eyes that made all jump back a little.  
"Why is who here Finn?" Veronica said gently.  
  
"Him!" she half yelled, half cursed as she pointed to Ned. "He's not supposed to be here."  
  
"Finn, I-I don't understand what you mean." the jungle girl spat back puzzled.  
  
"Forget it," the other blond said as she stalked away to her bedroom.  
  
"What was that all about?" John mused with a shake of his head.  
  
"A bit jealous perhaps?" Marguerite smirked.   
  
'That's probably it." Malone said quickly and turned away. His suspicions had been correct.  
  
  
  
The last traces of sunlight were leaving the sky as George Challenger made his way to the tree house --or rather someone who seemed to be George Edward Challenger. He had been out collecting tree samples when it happened. A premeditated ambush at best. Challenger never saw it coming He was now possessed and found himself the pawn in the deadly pursuit of Veronica Layton.  
  
The explorers never saw it coming either, never saw anything coming really, the band of warriors following Challenger as he traveled home, nor the long calculated poisoning that Finn was trying to accomplish.  
  
Challenger's band of warriors found themselves quite fortunate as his friends were found on the grounds beneath the tree house. The puzzled looks on their faces and their unwillingness to fight Challenger also proved an advantage as the warriors began to attack.  
  
"What the hell is going on?" Marguerite screamed in the mist of the fight.  
  
"I don't know." Malone answered truthfully as he swung his staff and sufficiently knocked out three people.   
  
"And where the hell did you learn to fight like that?" she yelled back at him.  
  
Malone smiled, "Probably where I learned to do this," he responded as he grabbed hold of his staff once more, flipped up in to the trees and then down again as the warriors looked up in amazement, movements before they were sent in to unconsciousness.   
  
He landed and turned as Roxton yelled, "Malone get down!" Maybe it was the way he said it, the voice of authority the reminded him of a past he wanted to forget, but Malone lost his concentration and regained his throne for always getting knocked out in the mist of a battle.  
  
*  
  
A/N I hope you liked the chapter, more to come soon. 


End file.
